Speaking at a two-hour event in the U.S. Capitol Visitor's Center, eight panelists—organized by the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCSE)—explained that a growing body of research shows that pornography has severe effects on the human mind and body.

"Pornography provides a slippery slope to take the next step to abuse and exploitation," said Ed Smart, whose daughter Elizabeth was kidnapped for nine months in 2002. Smart is the vice president of the Elizabeth Smart Foundation.

The panel, which was sponsored by Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-IA, focused heavily on the link between watching pornography and the ill treatment of women. And according to University of Pennsylvania Director of the Sexual Trauma and Psychopathology Program Center for Cognitive Therapy Mary Anne Layden, Ph.D., "sexual obesity is causing catastrophic outcomes."

"What information is it feeding [young people]?" Layden asked. "It is telling them this: there is no such thing as too much sex, and there is no sexual behavior that is harmful, toxic, or traumatizing, and that sex is not about intimacy, caring, love, or respect."

Porn teaches that "sex is not about marriage or having children. Sex is casual, recreational, adversarial, and it is non-intimate," Layden said. "In fact, you don't even need to know your partner, because sex with strangers is the best and most intense time for sex, and you can see the consequences of that in hookup culture on our college campuses." (Photo via Public-domain-image.com)

Online pornography gives young people "sexual junk food," according to Layden. "No wonder that the psychologists are calling pornography the new crack cocaine."

In a statement to LifeSiteNews, Grassley said that "important steps have been made to protect children from pornographers and other forms of sexual exploitation, but more work remains, given the prevalence of, and easy access to, child pornography as well as obscenity."

"Discussion among policy experts is important to bring attention to the issue," said the senator. One activist attending the event asked Capitol Hill staffers and interns to do exactly that, pressing them to go back to their offices and ask their bosses to block porn, especially child porn, in their offices.

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